EPA Environmental News
May 5, 1998

LOCK HAVEN, PA. ­­The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Region III has released a response to the national
ombudsman for the agency's Superfund program. The letter, from EPA Regional
Administrator W. Michael McCabe to National Ombudsman Robert J. Martin,
answers concerns raised in the ombudsman's review of the Drake Chemical
Superfund site here.

Upon request from Arrest the Incinerator Remediation (A.I.R.), a citizen's
group, Mr. Martin reviewed the EPA's decision to incinerate contaminated
soil at the Drake site and made recommendations to the agency in a final
report issued to the agency on April 16, 1998.

Region III generally found that the concerns cited in the ombudsman's
report have previously been raised by the A.I.R. group, and the EPA has
already addressed these concerns in a variety of ways. The ombudsman raised
concerns about: 1) the characterization of the contaminated soil 2) the
destruction efficiency of the incinerator 3) the air monitoring on the
perimeter of the site and 4) the need for a wet dust collection system
to keep dust from leaving the site. Each of these concerns is specifically
answered in the response letter.

The Drake Chemical Superfund Site Cleanup Team is scheduled to restart
the incinerator on Wednesday May 6, 1998. For the past month, the incinerator
has been undergoing maintenance and replacement of the kiln liner.

The incinerator at the Drake Chemical Superfund site has already burned
15 percent of the contaminated soil on site. With this response to the
ombudsman's report, EPA Region III continues to have confidence in the
cleanup remedy for the Drake Chemical Superfund Site and will complete
the processing of the remaining 85 percent of contaminated soil.

The response letter is available to the public upon request from the
above contact, or can be viewed at the information repositories in Lock
Haven, Pa.